Liquid Diet
by Smileyfax
Summary: Sandi gets a lifestyle change. How will everybody's favorite fashionista survive without mirrors?
1. Chapter 1

"I should let you know, I'm infected."

Sandi looked at the boy from the passenger seat. "Like, I appreciate you telling me, but I hope you don't think we were ever going to get that far," she responded.

"I don't think you understand," he said more firmly. "I need to feed."

"Well, that's why we're going to Chez Pierre," she said, starting to get irritated at her date's behavior.

She had met the young man at the last Lawndale-Oakwood game. He had shown up just after sunset and seemed distracted, but he had a very nice car.

"You don't understand," he repeated. "I want to eat you now."

"Look, freak, I already told you you're not getting past first base. I don't want to hear about it again." Sandi looked away, staring outside. "Hey, this isn't the way to Chez Pierre."

"I know," the freak said. Sandi turned back to him. He was now grinning in a very unfriendly manner. And his teeth...

"That's it, freak. Pull over. This date is over." The car accelerated, however, instead of slowing down. "Are you deaf, you stupid geek?"

"Sandi, you don't quite understand: YOu're dinner."

"And you don't understand, you freak: You should have worn a seatbelt."

A second later, the boy screamed as Sandi sprayed her can of mace into his face. He threw his arms up in defense -- a very silly move when driving an automobile at high speeds.

XXXX

Sandi moaned and rubbed her head -- the passenger-seat airbag had come at her pretty hard. She looked to the driver's side -- or rather, the empty seat and the large hole in the windshield. "Freak," she sneered once more, before reaching into her pocket for her cell phone.

She dialed 9 and 1 before her enraged date ripped the door off its hinges.

"I didn't like that," he said before reaching around Sandi and hitting the seatbelt release. "I didn't like that at all." He grabbed Sandi's arm and effortlessly pulled her out. "You wrecked my car. I loved this car. You ruined my clothes." He gestured down to where either glass from the windshield or the tree that the car had wrapped itself around had torn his outfit. "I was going to go easy on you, but now?" He chuckled. "I'm gonna make you wish you AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGHH!"

Sandi had placed a punch square into his crotch, causing him to double over in pain. She began running back toward the road, massaging the arm her date had pulled on as she ran.

Suddenly, her date was in front of her. "You know, I really admire your spirit," he acknowledged. "All my other dates usually pissed themselves by now." Sandi's response was another attempt at a crotch shot (this time with her foot), but the boy caught the appendage easily. "Mm, I'm almost tempted to keep you." He pulled the foot, making Sandi lose her footing and causing her to fall.

He moved quickly, pinning her with his own body. He closed his eyes in ecstasy, inhaling all he could of Sandi. "Mmm, you hardly smell of fear. I'd like to change that." He sank his elongated teeth into her neck. His smirk only widened as he heard her sharply inhale -- pain. That was good.

He really should have pinned her arms down too.

He roared in pain as Sandi drove her thumbs deep into his eyes. The sudden shock let Sandi push him off and flee again.

"YOU BITCH! YOU FUCKING BITCH! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" Sightless, he was too infuriated to listen for Sandi's hurried steps, to smell for the blood running freely down her neck.

Sandi resolutely kept moving forward, even though she was starting to feel dizzy. She looked down and noticed that her dress was getting significantly stained with blood. "Asshole," she muttered. "Dress cost me three hundred dollars."

She was almost at the roadside, but she felt tired all of a sudden. "...Should hide for now, rest," she said to herself in a quiet whisper. She crawled into the drainage ditch next to the road, made her way into a drainpipe, and closed her eyes.

XXXXXXXXXX

Fun start, eh? This was actually inspired by a dream, in which Harmony Kendall (of Buffy fame) had her own vampire gang during the period while she was still in high school. My dreams being what they are, it was fairly bizarre, as her gang was stealing a nut-filled variety of Butterfingers (I'm certain a nut-filled variety of that candy bar doesn't exist in real life) and they intended to use the sweets as rations on a space flight. Sometime after I awoke, I got the idea of transplanting vampirism into Sandi (the closest analogue for Harmony that exists in the Dariaverse). Of course, since I'd like this fic to be logically consistent, it is highly improbable that Sandi will pilfer candy on her quest to becoming an astronaut. Sorry to disappoint!

(Overall, I'm not sure where I want to go with this, but I have a few directions in mind).

(Also, for my homeboys waiting for an update on Schismatic, I have the next chapter written, but the guy I usually run my chapters by has been offline for the past few days. If that smelly jerk doesn't get back to me soon, I'll eventually end up posting it, but it might not be as superb as I'd like). 


	2. Chapter 2

Sandi awoke with a groan. She instinctively reached for her neck, but found it smooth, no punctures.

She sat up and bumped her head, remembering too late that she had spent the night in a drainpipe. "Damn pipes," she cursed.

She looked at her arms and realized that webs of frost covered them. She realized that she was not, in fact, breathing.

She ran her tongue over her upper teeth -- her incisors were longer than they had been since they had replaced her baby teeth.

While she took great efforts to distance herself from being known as a brain, she certainly wasn't stupid. She was well aware of what had happened to her. "Damn freaks."

Peering out the pipe, she saw that the light outside appeared to be muted -- meaning that it might be overcast weather. She tentatively stuck a hand out. It felt like ants were crawling across it, but it didn't burst into flame or anything.

Before she could crawl out of the pipe, she had to do something about her dress. It simply would not do to be seen wearing something soaked in a large amount of blood. Somebody would probably call the police, and she would have to answer a lot of awkward questions.

Wrinkling her nose in disgust, she decided to scoop handfuls of mud from outside the pipe and rub it over the stained parts of her dress. Being seen walking in a mud-caked dress, though, would be just as bad as the blood if the wrong people (specifically, anybody from school) saw her. She would just have to duck out of sight if she heard a car coming...

XXXX

It was a stressful walk home. The sensation of ants crawling on the exposed parts of her body turned her stomach, and a few times the sun almost seemed to peek through the clouds. During those times, the ants' marching intensified to a painful searing, like when she would get a bad sunburn.

It was also much more difficult to avoid being seen when she made it into Lawndale city limits -- there weren't any convenient trees to slip behind, and the one time she had hopped behind a fenced-in yard, a large dog had chased her out right away. Fortunately, nobody had seen her and she managed to get home without incident.

She didn't go in at first. She walked around to the back, turned on the hot tub, and slid in, dirtied dress and all. (She didn't worry about muddying the waters, the filter would take care of that). Now, safe at home, she allowed herself to feel.

Silent tears burned salty trails down her cheeks. What had happened last night...she had died. She had died, and nothing would ever be the same.

When she was fighting for her purity, for her life, when she was making her way home, she couldn't let herself be weak. Weakness was...death. She hadn't been strong enough.

She took a deep breath and willed the tears to stop. She would resolve to be strong enough in the future. Hell, she was a goddamn vampire now. Vampires were practically superheroes. (Not that she was into anything that geeky).

Standing out of the water, she saw that the dirt had washed off but not the blood. She slipped inside, not caring that she would drip water through the house.

Her mother was out of town covering a story in the nation's capital. Her father had taken the opportunity to have a very important meeting with a large bottle of whiskey, and sat slumped over his desk in the den, gently snoring. Sam and Chris...who knows.

In her room, she stripped off the dress, balled it up, and shoved it deep into her trash can. She turned to the mirror to see how she looked --

"Oh, this is just great," she said. Her reflection had abandoned her.

XXXX

"Thank you for coming over, Tiffany," Sandi greeted. She had showered and changed into her daywear clothes.

"Anytime, Sandi," Tiffany replied in her characteristic slow drawl. "What did you need?"

"Well, Tiffany, it's really the funniest thing. You see, my mirror broke."

"Oh no! I hate when that happens," Tiffany frowned.

"So, Tiffany, I need you to help me with my makeup."

"Sure thing, Sandi."

The two girls adjourned to Sandi's room. Tiffany stood in front of Sandi's mirror.

"But Sandi, your mirror looks just fine," Tiffany pointed out.

Sandi stood next to Tiffany.

"Ohhhhh. I've never seen a mirror break like that before."

"It's very annoying," Sandi huffed. "Tiffany, my makeup?"

XXXX

Sandi lay in bed, unable to sleep. She kept wondering how she would get to school tomorrow. She doubted Ms. Li or her mother would buy that she had a sudden allergy to sunlight.

Wasn't she supposed to be stalking the night or something? She'd felt hungry all day, but had ignored the feeling like she usually did. She could feel it growing stronger, though, and she worried that she might...go crazy and rip somebody's throat out in the lunch room. It was an absurd thought, but she didn't really know what being a vampire was like, other than watching that movie with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.

She also worried about her...fangs. (She was so reluctant to call them that -- such a geeky term -- but that's truly what they were). She never smiled wide and she doubted if she would be eating at the school ever again, but it was possible somebody might see them. She would be socially ruined. It might be time to find a discrete dentist...

As she finally began to nod off, she wondered what the scope of her abilities were. She hoped she couldn't change into a bat -- ewwwwwwwwwww. 


	3. Chapter 3

Sandi mentally went over her appearance, to check and see if any of her flesh would be fully exposed to the sunlight.

For her head, she wore a scarf covering her hair, and a large pair of sunglasses. (They had been out of fashion for two years, but having burns on her face would ruin her popularity forever). She had applied generous dabs of sunscreen to her arms and face; she didn't know if it would actually help, but every little bit would help.

She had even applied a false tanning solution (borrowed from her mother), even though she typically sneered at the product -- after all, if a person wanted to look beautiful, they should go to the nearest tanning salon and do it themselves. Still, though, even with her instinct for self-preservation, she had only applied a light amount. It would raise too many questions from the rest of the Fashion Club if she showed up fully bronzed.

Finally, she was ready to leave her room. She pushed open the door and marched through the house as fast as she could. Sunlight shone through the windows in the house, and already she could feel her skin prickle, worse than any time before. And this was just indirect sunlight.

"Sandi, did you want some toast before..." Sandi ignored the breakfast offer from her father, marching right up to the front door and throwing it open.

She gritted her teeth as she forced herself to walk forward to her car. She wondered now why she ever wanted a convertible...although she did have the foresight to come out last night and put the top up.

With a sigh of relief she slid into the driver's seat and closed the car door. Well, light still flooded in from the windows, but at least the sun wasn't beating down directly onto her now.

Looking down at her arms, she saw that the skin was actually peeling away -- with new skin emerging underneath instantly, no scarring or blemishes or anything. She 'eww'ed to herself repeatedly as she peeled off the dead bits with a tissue, eventually balling it up and tossing it out the window. At least she would never have to worry about a dermatologist again. She shuddered as she remembered middle school, and how she saw a pizza in every mirror...

XXXX

"Daria, I just don't buy it," Jane said as the duo walked to school.

"Three bodies have been found with their necks torn open, Jane, and there was no accompanying blood-soaked crime scene. All that blood couldn't just get up and walk away."

"Still...a vampire?" Jane's voice wavered between skepticism and acceptance.

"Well, it's either a vampire, or somebody who has a few too many bats in their belfry."

Just then, Sandi Griffin's car zoomed past them, going well over the speed limit. The two friends stared at the car as it shrank into the distance.

"Sandi Griffin racing to get to school. Now that's something I really have a hard time believing," Jane said.

"Yeah. Anyway, Jane, do you want to go vampire hunting?"

XXXX

Sandi stood in front of her open locker, dazed. The day was bad, teetering on disastrous. She had showed up at school fine, parking as close to the entrance as possible. It only took her a few seconds to make it inside, and she brushed off the newly-peeled layers of skin that formed in a dark corner. The makeup check went fine (Sandi had the club check each other, claiming that she had found out that the girls' bathroom mirrors gave off flawed reflections), and she managed to make it through the first half of economics with Mrs. Bennett before she heard an odd thumping sound.

She glanced to her left and realized it was Quinn's heartbeat. She actually licked her lips before she realized what she was doing, and steeled herself to ignore the bloodlust.

It was now just after lunch period. Losing her composure, she had asked the cafeteria worker if she could have some raw meat, but the woman had simply scoffed and said it was against health regulations. Like she cared about health regulations to begin with, looking at the food served daily.

"Sandi, are you listening to me?"

Sandi was shook out of her reflection by Stacy, who stood next to her, shaking her shoulder.

"Uh...of course I am, Stacy." Sandi put on the veneer of normalcy -- for her, a sneer and an icy attitude. "I was just thinking about important Fashion Club business, and didn't have time to answer you. Now, what was it you had to say?"

Stacy shrunk a little. "Well...uh...Tiffany wanted me to tell you that she couldn't make it to the Fashion Club meeting tonight. She was asked out on a date by some cute guy. And...uh...Quinn said she was grounded by her parents for maxing out their credit cards. And...well...I was kind of feeling...well...under the weather, you know." Stacy blushed at the last admission.

Sandi nodded, barely, as she was suddenly drunk off Stacy's smell. Her hunger pangs were demanding that she seize Stacy right now and pierce her neck, drink all the lifeblood from her...

Sandi bit the inside of her lip as hard as she could. The pain broke the hold her cravings had over her, but she didn't know how long she could last. Her mouth started talking.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm feeling under the weather too," Sandi admitted. "Maybe we could, like, hang out, or something, like we used to in the 8th grade."

Stacy lit up. Memories of painting each other's nails, giggling about the boys at school, and reading the latest issue of Waif came back to her. Back before Sandi became a huge bitch.

"I'd love that!" Stacy said, feeling better already. "I'll come over around 5 or 6."

"Wait, aren't your parents away this week?" Sandi asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"I'll go over to your place instead."

"Oh. Okay! See you tonight, Sandi!" Stacy smiled and walked away.

After she left, Sandi turned back to the interior of her locker. "What the hell did I just do?" Sandi asked herself. 


	4. Chapter 4

Stacy opened the door to greet Sandi. "Sandi, hi! ...Why do you have an umbrella? It's not supposed to rain today."

Sandi huffed. "Sta-cy, this is a parasol. It's to keep the sun off my delicate skin. Besides, I happen to think it's quite stylish." Sandi stepped into the house, making sure not to lower her shade until she was indoors. She was glad she had thought of it before leaving school, and had dropped by the mall to pick one up. She also picked up a few new outfits that would match her new accessory well -- since she would be using the parasol any time the sun was out, they were a necessity.

"Oh! Sorry, Sandi," Stacy sighed. She perked up. "I made us some butter-free, salt-free popcorn!" she said.

"Mm, that sounds..." A hunger pang struck Sandi. "Uhh...I'm not really in the mood for popcorn, Stacy."

"Oh, that's okay. I have some celery sticks too!" she countered, eager to please.

"I don't have much of an appetite today, Stacy," Sandi said, neglecting to mention that the appetite she did have required that Stacy present her neck. Her neck pulsing with that delicious red stuff...

Sandi bit down on the inside of her lip while driving her fingernails into the palms of her hands. As the day went by, injuring herself helped less and less stave off her unnatural cravings.

She looked behind her, back to the door. She thought that if she stayed, there was a very good chance that she would kill Stacy. She tried to turn towards the door, to throw it open and bathe in the sunlight.

Stacy walked towards the staircase. "Do you want to go watch Titanic, Sandi? We can paint each others' toenails, it'll be just like old times!" A big, happy grin was on Stacy's face.

"Yeah, just like old times," Sandi parroted, then followed Stacy up the stairs.

XXXX

Sandi watched Leo sink into the Atlantic as Stacy sobbed next to her. Finally, as the credits began to roll, Stacy was able to compose herself a little.

"Sorry about being a crybaby," Stacy said, still rubbing at her eyes with a tissue. "I just get emotional when my flow is heavy."

"Flow?" Sandi asked, confused.

"Er, yeah," Stacy said, starting to blush. "Sorry, I know you don't like to hear about gross stuff like that."

Sandi realized just why she had been drawn to Stacy all day. She could smell her...

She turned to face Stacy. "Stacy, this is very important. I want you to take your pants off right now."

Stacy recoiled in shock. "What? Why in the heck would I..." Stacy's words trailed off as she began to stare deeply into Sandi's eyes. Something had changed in them...she wanted to take a closer look...

XXXX

"Wow."

Stacy was still in a daze as Sandi lay next to her, satiated.

"Wow."

Sandi reflected on what she had just done. For the first time since awakening that morning, she was able to think clearly without her mind wandering (or being thrust toward) blood.

Firstly, she reflected that she rather enjoyed the experience separate from getting nourishment. She didn't know why...she had always been strongly into guys before her transformation, and didn't know if she was unknowingly bi or if all vampires swung both ways or what. Either way...she turned to Stacy, and licked her lips for reasons entirely unrelated to food.

"Uh, Sandi...does this mean we're going out now?" Stacy asked.

Sandi thought it over. "I don't know, Stacy. I'm going through a lot right now."

Stacy nodded. "How did you know I was gay?" she asked.

Sandi went blank for a moment. "Uh, I didn't."

"Sandi, you're so brave. I haven't outed myself to anybody -- well, except you," she said with a giggle. "But you just came out with it. When did you know you were gay?"

"Uh, I don't know. This was just...kind of...a spur of the moment thing. And I think I'm bi."

"Oh," Stacy said.

"Look, Stacy, don't take this the wrong way, but I have to go out and think about things."

"Okay, Sandi, I understand." She hesitantly leaned over and pecked Sandi on the lips.

XXXX

The sun had already set as Sandi left Stacy's house. She got into her car and began driving aimlessly.

While she had found an unusual solution to her problem, it was a short-term one. Unless she set up a whole harem of women whose cycle operated at different times of the month -- and while her new status may have inspired her leaning towards women, she definitely didn't lean towards polygamy.

She remembered that Brad Pitt ate rats to survive in Interview With the Vampire. She made a disgusted face at the idea -- rats, ewwwww! She also ruled out any other live animals, as they would either be too gross or too cute to bite.

She considered getting blood from raw meat. While meat usually disgusted her, she had a hunch that she could no longer get fat in the state she was in. She could probably gorge herself on meal after meal and not even have to undo any buttons on her pants. (She made another disgusted face at the thought of such gluttony).

She decided to stop by the local Food King and sample the butcher's wares.

XXXX

"Can I help you miss?" the man behind the counter said.

"Um, yeah. Like, what's the rawest...uh, bloodiest meat you have?"

The man gave her a funny look. "Huh, you're the second person to ask me that this week."

"What?" Sandi started getting goosebumps. The freak?

"Yeah, the guy came in two, three days ago. Haven't seen him since. Why, you know him?"

"Uh...not really."

The man shrugged. "Alright, a pound of our bloodiest meat." The man shook his head, as if giving up the idea of ever understanding the odd requests he got.

Sandi waited until she was in her car before she peeled off some of the wrap and sampled it. "Not bad," she commented out loud. It didn't compare to Stacy, but it would do in a pinch.

As Sandi sucked on the chunk of meat, she thought back to when she asked Stacy to take off her pants. She realized that she had somehow hypnotized Stacy into doing it, and remembered that vampires had all sorts of abilities and stuff. As much as it pained her, Sandi would have to do some research. 


	5. Chapter 5

"Now there's a sight you don't see every day," Jane said to Daria.

They had entered the library on the off-chance that there were any practical books on vampirism, and spotted Sandi Griffin at one of the tables, actually reading a book.

"The title," Daria pointed out to Jane. It was Bram Stoker's Dracula. "The plot thickens."

"Hum. A coincidence," Jane said.

"Maybe," Daria acknowledged, approaching the table. "Hello, Sandi."

Sandi looked up, startled (and a little annoyed). "Oh, it's you. Quinn's 'cousin'."

Daria rolled her eyes, then sat opposite Sandi. "Bram Stoker's Dracula, that's a good book. One of the great classics of horror literature. Reading it for a class?"

Sandi scowled at the continued pestering. "As a matter of fact, yes. Mr. O'Neil assigned it to us."

"Mhm. That's funny, since I was in Mr. O'Neil's class last year, so I know the syllabus, and Dracula isn't anywhere on it."

"It was, like, extra credit --"

"And besides, Sandi, you wouldn't bother actually reading the book. I happen to know how you think, since I live with one of you fashion drones. You would watch the movie, probably the one with Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder. Sandi, why are you reading that book?"

Sandi's scowl turned into a snarl. "Look, you stupid geek, don't say you know how I think, because you don't. Now get the hell out of here before I kick your know-it-all ass out of here!"

Daria stood and walked out. Jane, after a stunned look at Sandi (who glared right back at Jane) followed after.

Sandi went back to reading the book. "Ew, this freak eats flies?"

XXXX

Daria and Jane walked in silence for a minute after leaving the library. Finally:

"What the HELL was that?" Jane asked.

"I think something very traumatic happened to Sandi in the past few days," Daria said. "I don't think you have to guess too hard what happened."

"So...should we recruit her into our band of vampire hunters?"

Daria paused, then shook her head. "No. Not yet, at least. I think we should keep our distance from her for now, to let her come to terms with what happened."

Daria didn't want to tell Jane what she had seen when Sandi snarled at her...two elongated incisors. It chilled her that she might actually be right about the vampire. She did know what she had to do when she got home, though.

XXXX

"Quinn, I have something very important to ask you."

Quinn turned to her sister, standing in the doorway to her room, looking grim (in other words, looking the same) and rolled her eyes. "Can it wait?" she asked. Daria shook her head no. Quinn sighed. "Let me call you back, Tiffany." She turned off the phone. "What is it, Daria?" she asked, already tired of the conversation from her tone.

"Quinn, I want you to promise me that you'll stay away from Sandi Griffin."

"As if, Daria," Quinn scoffed. "Why would I want to stay away from her?"

"Quinn...I can't explain it right now. I don't even know if I'm right. But I don't want you going near her, because you might get hurt."

"Yeah right, Daria. This is just one of your stupid tricks, isn't it?"

Daria put her hands on Quinn's shoulders. "Quinn, I'm not joking. You're the biggest pain in my ass, but I love you too damn much to let you get hurt. So just promise me, okay?"

Quinn was a little shaken by the deeply personal thing Daria had just said. It was so...unlike her. "You sure you're not joking?" she asked quietly.

"Cross my heart and hope to...I swear," Daria said.

Quinn sighed. "I can't make any promises, Daria, but I'll keep an eye out for danger, okay?"

Daria nodded. "Thanks, Quinn."

XXXXXXXXX

Random memory:

The first time I watched The Teachings of Don Jake (in '97, when it first aired), I was the innocent age of 13. And quite sheltered. That's why I was so shocked and shaken to hear Daria utter "Damnit! It's my turn to say damnit!" I was an odd one. (Was? Hahaha).

You know, I'm stil not sure exactly how long this is going to be, or what the ending will look like exactly, but I've "latched" onto it, like I've done so with Schismatic and Box to the Future in the past -- that is, I'm compelled enough to keep writing until I come to an end. Lucky for you, the reader, eh?

XXX

Also, I just found out I won the Daria Fanworks Awards (colloquially known as the 'Booties') for Box to the Future, under the Supernatural or Fantasy Non-Horror category. I'm thrilled! I actually got a mind-blowing 13 nominations, but to actually win something is, well, something else entirely. (13 wins would have been nice, but I won't complain).

One thing, though -- apparently, enough people liked my fic enough to nominate/elect it, but I get so few reviews! :'( I do love getting reviews -- mindless praise, constructive criticism, comparing me to G.G. Allin (one of my favorite moments), anything! If you do review, though, at least write a sentence. One word reviews are rather annoying.

XXX

And another thing, I just updated my profile with the most recent assessment of my pending fics. Go take a gander! 


	6. Chapter 6

"So, I think Sandi's a vampire."

"...Sandi? How?"

"I don't know. Maybe she really was attacked by one, and got infected."

"But...wait! She was at school in the daytime! How do you explain that?"

"I can't really say. It's only in the past century or so that vampires -- fictional ones, anyway -- would be killed by sunlight. It's entirely possible that that's the case."

"What do we do, then? Do we confront her?"

"No, not unless we're well-prepared. Sandi could easily crush our skulls if I'm right."

"Well, what do we do in the way of preparation?"

Trent had heard enough. He was about to go into Janey's room to ask if she knew what continent Dad was on this year, but had been shaken to a stop when he overheard what they were talking about. He had a very important phone call to make.

He closed the door to his room, sat down on the mattress, picked up the duck phone, dialed, and listened to the ringing.

"Hey," the dull voice came from the earpiece.

"Jesse, it's Trent. We have to talk. Get over here."

XXXX

Daria and Jane contemplated the giant sacks of garlic. "I dunno, Daria. We want to ward off Sandi, not everybody down wind."

They were at the PayDay, picking up a few items in bulk. Daria held a jumbo can of lighter fluid in one hand already, while Jane had a five-pound can of coffee (the Lane household was running low on the stuff -- she had no intention of battling vampires with it).

"Can I help you?" The duo turned to see it was Andrea addressing them. Andrea had shunned them when they had come to the store on an earlier errand, believing that they would viciously insult her, but they had since grown into casually saying 'hello' to one another whilst passing in the hallway.

"Yeah, we were wondering if this garlic was good to ward off vampires," Jane said without thinking. Daria resisted the urge to elbow Jane in the ribs.

Andrea looked inquisitively at the two. "Really? Who's the vampire?"

"Mm...Sandi Griffin," Daria said.

"Bitchin'!" Andrea said, a smirk on her face. "Well, to be honest, garlic isn't useful against vampires at all."

Daria nodded. "I thought as much, but we were operating on the off-chance that extreme odors would overwhelm their senses and let us get the upper hand."

Andrea shook her head. "Vampires may have heightened senses, but they also have higher tolerance to compensate. Tell you what, if you two are serious, there's this shop just off Dega Street that can help you." She gave them directions. "Let me know how it works out!"

"Um..." Daria hesitated. "Since you seem to be pretty knowledgable...would you be interested in joining us?"

Andrea shook her head. "No thanks. It's tempting, but I don't feel like dying yet."

Daria and Jane exchanged a look, thanked her, and quickly made their way to the registers.

XXXX

"Well, I'm disappointed. This isn't how I expected a dingy occult store to look at all," Jane said.

The dingy occult store was actually a well-lit, neatly organized shop that (if you didn't look too closely) appeared to be a specialty bookstore. In fact, the most occult item in sight was the ankh that hung around the clerk's neck. Daria and Jane approached her.

"Hi, we're here because we...uh...need help with vampires," Daria said reluctantly.

The woman looked up from her book -- Tobin's Spirit Guide -- and appraised them for a moment. Daria appraised back; the woman's hair was an impressive shade of red, darker than Quinn's. "I see," she finally answered. "Don't we go to the same high school?"

Daria suddenly realized she had seen her in passing several times at Lawndale. "I guess so," she acknowledged. "Andrea referred us here," she added.

The woman perked up. "Andrea? That means she thinks you're cool. Good."

She retreated to a back room for a few minutes. Daria looked at some of the nearest shelves of books -- most of the books' spines either had no title, or were in a foreign language. The ones that were in English only spurred her curiosity -- Three Ways To Make a Cockatrice, The Ethics of Precognition, Astral Projection For Dummies, Cooking For Your Chi, just to name a few. Finally, the woman returned from the back room with a velvet drawstring sack.

The first thing she took out of the sack was a sheet of temporary tattoos all alike. "These symbols are a ward against evil. Apply them pretty much anywhere on your body, though some places are more effective -- forehead, over your heart, the base of your spine, and the top of your hand."

"Would permanent tattoos be more effective?" Jane asked.

The woman shook her head. "No, but if you expect to be going up against dark forces frequently, it would be more convenient than plastering these things on every two or three days." She removed the next item from the sack.

"A bag of seed?" Daria asked, skeptical.

"Vampires are a bit OCD -- they're compelled to pick things up, count them, and so on. I want to emphasize, though, that this is NOT a sure thing -- if a vamp's hell-bent on tearing your throat out, this will only buy you a few seconds, so don't rely on it."

She pulled out the next item. "That's a mirror," Daria pointed out.

"Yes and no. It's granite that's been so highly polished that it reflects just as well as a glass mirror. Vampires can also see their reflections in it -- and for some reason, they're terrified of their own reflection."

She pulled the last item out of the sack, a small bundle of glass spheres.

"These are your last resort -- don't use them otherwise."

"What is it?" Jane asked.

"Werewolf pee. The scent of another predator will drive vampires into fight-or-flight immediately, and according to past accounts, will usually choose flight."

"And if they choose fight?"

The woman grimaced. "I really hope you have your affairs in order."

"How do you get werewolf pee, anyway?" Jane asked.

"You really, really don't want to know."

XXXX

Sandi and Stacy were trying clothes on in Cashman's. They were behaving themselves, of course, as it would be unbecoming of a Fashion Club member to ruin the sanctity of the dressing room.

"Sandi...when you...eh-heh...didn't it taste...well, since I was...you know?" Stacy asked.

"Oh, uh, I didn't even notice," Sandi quickly lied.

"You're so sweet, Sandi," Stacy smiled, giving her a peck on the cheek. Sandi would have blushed, if she still had circulation.

XXXXXXXXXX

Please note: I made up half of the vampire preventatives given to Daria and Jane and I'm pretty sure the other half wouldn't actually work, so don't attempt to use them on a vampire yourself, guys.

I think things will start picking up towards a climax in the next chapter (though the actual climax won't be for two, three, maybe four chapters more. Not sure yet). 


End file.
